Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Bliss of a dog's kiss.

Were one to pen a nippy ode to the passions of the urbane stray dog advocacy groups, it would perhaps run something like this: More barks less bytes, Ignorance is bliss, When sealed, With a dog's kiss!Indeed,
such activists bristle with rage at the suggestion of wildlife field
researchers that free-ranging dogs be removed from jungles as they
adversely bear upon wild creatures.

Activists
holler that humans have displaced dogs from their natural habitats.
Some activists offer the lame-duck solution of sterilisations and
vaccinations without realising how ineffective these measures are in
controlling these virtually unowned killer dogs that roam the
wilderness. But what exactly is the scientific profiling and
evolutionary history of such dogs? Dogs (Canis familiaris) are the
world's most common carnivores, and have been introduced by humans
everywhere.
Abi Tamim Vanak, PhD, and a fellow at both the National Environmental
Sciences Programme, MOEF, and Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation,
ATREE, Bangalore, answered my query thus: "The most recent evidence
points out that wolves and modern domestic dogs shared a common
ancestor. There is nothing genetically unique about free-ranging dogs in
India. They do not form a distinct subclade, and there is very little
evidence for such a thing as an Indian native dog.
They are part of the same clade as seen all over Western Europe,
Asia etc. Domestic dogs are commensals of humans, and are heavily
subsidised by humans in terms of direct feeding, garbage, human waste,
and livestock carcasses. Thus, they occur at unnaturally high densities
for a medium-sized predator. If there was a situation, wherein truly
feral dogs (that received no subsidy from humans) survived by hunting
wild prey in areas where there were no longer wild carnivores, then dogs
would be filling a niche. However, there are very rare cases of this in
the world. The only large-scale case, where dogs have gone feral and
become a part of the ecosystem, is the Dingos in Australia, but not
before Dingos themselves played a part in the extirpation of some
marsupial carnivores."

DOG IN THE MANGLER
One
of the finest photo-documentation's of free-ranging dogs killing wild
animals is the one by Vickey Chauhan. He came upon a neelgai (Blue bull)
that was being savaged by dogs from a nearby village at the Indroda
Nature Park, Gandhinagar (Gujarat). Chauhan had gone to click migratory
birds when he saw the neelgai cornered in the water.

Vickey Chauhan Photo
"It was like a cow's calf screaming in agony and helplessness. The
dogs were tearing away the flesh even as the neelgai was alive.
I summoned help as I feared the dogs would attack me as they looked
strong and blood-thirsty. There were about five dogs in the water and
seven waited outside. As reinforcements arrived, we were able to chase
away the dogs. The injured neelgai staggered away but we saw the dogs
had got it later and were eating it," recounts Chauhan. The dogs were
habituated to killing wild animals. The park's staff, as is the case
with forest officials in many other wilderness areas of India, are
resigned to the dogs' predation and do little to stop this.

LEPERS IN THE WILD
Wildlife researchers cite well-documented cases of dogs posing hazards to global wildlife as they are carriers of diseases.

Vickey Chauhan Photo

In Issue 7.4 of the journal, Current Conservation,
the eminent veterinarian, Aniruddha V Belsare, writes: "Dog-transmitted
rabies poses a conservation threat. Introduction of canine rabies
resulted in the local extinction of African wild dog populations in the
Serengeti-Mara system (Tanzania/Kenya) in 1989; similar spillover events
have resulted in dramatic population declines of the Ethiopian wolf
population in the 1990s. Several other multi-host pathogens can also
persist in large dog populations.
Dogs have been implicated as a source of canine parvovirus (CPV),
contributing to Grey wolf mortality on Isle Royale, and as a potential
source of canine adenovirus (CAV) transmitted to Maned wolves in
Bolivia. The most infamous canine distemper virus (CDV) epidemic
occurred in the Serengeti in 1994, wiping out a third of all lions and
many hyenas, leopards and bat-eared foxes. Several other species,
including African wild dogs, Caspian sea seals and Lake Baikal seals,
have also experienced high mortality rates as a result of CDV introduced
from dogs. Domestic dogs may be the source of CDV infections that have
recently been reported to impact endangered Amur tigers living in the
Russian Far East." We can only shudder at the effect were such doggy
diseases to hit the Asiatic lion in its lone bastion of the Gir forests.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/punjab/chandigarh/bliss-of-a-dog-s-kiss/article1-1224814.aspx

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"If ever you feel like an animal among men, be a LION" -Criss Jami, American Musician and Poet. "Lion: The fiercest and most magnanimous of the four footed beasts" - Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language (1755)

Asiatic Lion Protection Society

Asiatic Lion Protection Society (ALPS) founded in year 2006, is an NGO working mainly for conservation of Asiatic Lion in Gir forest and in Indian Zoos. Main objectives: To compile max. information about Asiatic Lion plus Gir forest and spread it through out the globe by website, blogs, Wikipedia, yahoo groups etc To help protection & conservation of Asiatic Lion & Gir forest by taking up projects like - Building parapets on open wells. - To contact and request nationalize banks of Gir area to put a condition to built parapet on open wells while sanctioning loan to farmers - At the time of festivals, organize camps near temples like Kankai, Banej & Tulsi Shyam to educate tourist to protect wildlife. - To distribute information and awareness leaflets at check-post to visitors using jungle roads. - Make representation & persuade Govt. to make Gir 'A Plastic Free Zone. Similarly contact local civil bodies to make their areas A Plastic free zone. To inform authorities about illegal activities inside the jungle like wood-cutting, removal of forest produce, poaching, illegal grazing etc. To inform authorities about injured wild animals. Also educate locals of Gir forests as well as school/college students to conserve Gir forest, it's wildlife and to represent to Govt. in favor of trans-location of Asiatic Lion to some other good place in Gujarat. P S: We welcome your comments & posts and expect that our conversation will follow the general rules of respectful civil discourse. You’re fully responsible for everything that you submit here in your comments & posts.

Discover Gir forest with us...

If you wish to travel Gir forest... we will be happy to help, guide and accompany you to explore Gir forest for the best experience. Please contact us for the same.

Gir forest...Gir lies has a topography made up of succession of rugged ridges, isolated hills, plateaus and valleys. Besides, being the last abode of Asiatic lions, Gir forms a unique habitat for ratel, rusty spotted cat, pangolin, ruddy mongoose, civets, paradise flycatcher etc.The overwhelming presence of the omnipotent big cat diverts the attention of the common man from the remarkable bird population that the sanctuary has. However, the birds of Gir sanctuary did attract the great ornithologist, Dr. Salim Ali who believed that, had the Asiatic lions not been there, the area would have been one of the most fascinating bird sanctuaries of the country.People mostly link Gir with "Maldharis" who have survived through the ages by having symbiotic relationship with the lion. They are religious pastoral communities living in Gir. Their settlements are called "nesses".At present, Gir forests of Gujarat (India) is the only natural place where this race of lions i.e. Asiatic lion is found.